I received a copy of this e-book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Wolves is set in a post-apocalyptic world. The book begins with three men, each on their own mission of revenge or rescue. They have each lost family and/or friends to the "wolves" or slavers. All they know is the slavers travel east to sell their cargo. To go east, they must cross a desert. They must confront people who are complicit in the slavers business and people who just do not care. It is a novel of perseverance against the elements as well as enemies.

This is really my favorite genre. I was looking forward to reading it after seeing a lot of build up on social media and book review sites. Unfortunately I was disappointed. I just did not connect with any of the characters. I struggled to get through the book. I received it on August 30th and just finished it today, November 6th. That is an incredibly long time for me to complete a book.

I am not saying readers should read this book. Other readers will probably enjoy it. It just did not do it for me.

Dark and disturbing, intense and gripping, violent and soul destroying…

Huxley was a teacher, a husband and a father when the skyfire changed his world. He created a second life in what was known as the wastelands and was content growing barley with his wife Charity and daughter Nadine on a commune. Then, the slavers came through, killed his wife and took Nadine to be a slave. A man’s life can change in a moment and his did.

As he works his way east to where the slavers go he nearly dies a few times, wreaks vengeance, takes lives and saves a few. What he does turns him into a different man. Remorseless, avenging, seeking justice…he is a predator after prey…and finding plenty to prey upon. At times he asks himself how he feels, makes an assessment, and then continues on his way to where the slavers go to find the man with the scorpion tattoo.

Words that come to mind, while trying to describe this book, include: epic, saga, apocalyptic, dystopian, journey, values, valued, slavery, amoral, hedonistic, survival, humanity, inhumanity, law, order, disorder…and many more. This is a powerful book, very dark but also very powerful. It made me consider “what if” and then it made me wonder what I would be willing to do to survive and then finally ask myself if there was anything I would not do to make sure that someone I loved would survive and be able to live a free life.

This made me think of books written by John Wyndham that my father collected. It made me think of a movie with Clint Eastwood in which he lost his family and went to seek vengeance. It made me think of the movie Mad Max. It made me think of the Denzel Washington movie in which he is blind and moving West. It made me think of some recent books written by authors such as Megan Crane and Rebecca Zanetti. It is a book I recommend to those who don’t mind dark, gritty and violent and who also are willing to really think and ponder, “what if”.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. ( )

Wolves by D. J. Molles is a dark, gritty post-apocalyptic western. It is highly recommended for those who like plenty of gun play, violence, and a doomed man on a mission.

Huxley is a man who has lost everything. The world as we know it ended for him. He was living on an agricultural commune with his wife and daughter until the Slavers came, killed his wife, and took his daughter to sell. In her dying breath his wife told him the man who took his daughter had a scorpion tattoo on his neck. Now Huxley is crossing the Wastelands, heading east. He is saved from dying when another man, Jay, gives him water. The two travel together, on a mission to avenge and kill slavers.

As Huxley and Jay travel the wastelands, tracking the path of a band of slavers as they head east, he acquires a rag tag band of followers. They are hard men on a mission, to kill all the slavers who have ruined their lives. The two are motivated by pain, blood and death now, as they leave a path of destruction in their wake. It is a tragic portrait of a man pushed to his absolute limits.

This is a non-stop dark, bloody, violent, gritty, and intense novel. The influence of classic westerns is obvious in this saga of a man on a mission of vengeance and rage toward the people who took his daughter and killed his wife, as well as anyone who enabled the Slavers to continue their evil enterprise. It's also a long novel, so be prepared for the sheer overload of violence you will encounter within these pages.

The writing is excellent and above reproach. The character development, descriptions, and world building is exceptional. Honestly, the only drawback is that sometimes this is a hard novel to read because of the tone. It is a dark novel, very ominous, gruesome, bloody, and harsh, with relentless violence. Huxley is a driven man, by grief, and revenge, but also buried deep, by the love for his wife and the daughter he needs to save. There is redemption at the end, but an overwhelming amount of violence lead up to it.

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher for review purposes.

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With nothing left to lose, Huxley, a man driven by grief to become a force of destruction, moves across the land toward a singular vengeful goal. He seeks his daughter, and the death of man with the tattoo that enslaved her and brutally killed his wife. No matter how low it gutters, the flame of hope refuses to die. Huxley will not stop—cannot stop-- even if he becomes everything he hates about the enemy himself.

I can say much about this book, but first I want to say Bravo! to D. J. Molles. He went all in on this one with extraordinary courage and raw human honesty. It is impossible not to feel Huxley, Jay, Lowell and all the rest. There is so much action and complexity within the story and the setting that it leaves the page and stays with you when you put down the book. Although there was a satisfactory ending, I did not want to leave the story when it ended.

To call this book only a western or a post-apocalyptic story is shorting the value. It is set in a western setting (which is so well done that even if you don’t like westerns, you will still willingly go there) and it is certainly in a low tech post-apocalyptic civilization, but it is also a hero’s relentless journey, an infernal quest of sorts, and a glimpse into fierce human souls in pain. Just a story of a man, a husband and father compelled to do anything and everything to anyone and everyone to get to his daughter. Huxley’s journey is beautiful in the same way stormy seas are beautiful-- destructive, awesome, terrible, but in a good way if you are somewhere safe and warm.

Read it the day it is released! Put it on whatever list of books to read—at the top.

An advance reading copy was provided for free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review and others at annevolmering.com. ( )